NCAA Slams Penn State

Top College-Football Program Is Hobbled for Years; Paterno Wins Record Negated

ENLARGE

Students and others react Monday on hearing the NCAA's sanctions against Penn State for its handling of a child-sexual-abuse scandal.
Getty Images

By

Kris Maher,

Rachel Bachmanand

John W. Miller

Updated July 24, 2012 10:18 a.m. ET

The sweeping sanctions against Pennsylvania State University's vaunted football program—including a $60 million fine, a prohibition on bowl-game appearances and fewer scholarships—fell short of a "death penalty" for the program, but it delivered a severe hit to the prestige of the university.

The NCAA announced unprecedented sanctions Tuesday morning against Penn State, including fining the university $60 million and banning it from bowl games for four years. Rachel Bachman has details on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association said the penalties, which came as a heavy blow to many Penn State students and alumni, were intended to rebuild "a culture that went terribly awry" in dealing with child sexual abuse by an assistant coach. The NCAA, college sports' governing body, also vacated all Penn State wins from 1998 to 2011, stripping former football coach Joe Paterno of the title of most-winning coach in the history of major-college football. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden now stands at No. 1.

"The Penn State case has provoked in all of us a deeply emotional response and shaken our confidence in many ways," NCAA President Mark Emmert said at a news conference. The NCAA could impose further sanctions following the resolution of criminal proceedings against former university administrators.

Legendary quarterback Fran Tarkenton checks in on Mean Street and feels the NCAA got it right when it levied severe sanctions against Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Photo: Getty Images.

Journal Community

In a follow-up announcement, the Big Ten Conference censured Penn State and said it would be ineligible for Big Ten championship games for four years and would forfeit an estimated $13 million in revenue from those games. The $60 million NCAA fine and the $13 million in bowl-game revenue will be donated to charities to protect children from sexual abuse.

News of the sanctions drew immediate criticism from alumni and current students, who said they believe the entire university is being unfairly punished for the past actions of a few coaches administrators. Some big donors said they would continue supporting the school financially.

At the same time, some Penn State trustees said they were angry that the university, which has been criticized for a lack of transparency, agreed to the sanctions without first informing the entire board. David LaTorre, a Penn State spokesman, declined to comment.

The NCAA took the unusual step of issuing sanctions without conducting its own investigation. It relied heavily on a report released less than two weeks ago by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh. The report, commissioned by Penn State trustees, found Mr. Paterno and three other university officials didn't act on allegations of sexual abuse involving former coach Jerry Sandusky. Mr. Sandusky was convicted in June on 45 counts related to abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period starting in 1994, including within Penn State's athletic facilities.

Read the Report

Timeline: Joe Paterno's Career

Timeline: Sandusky on Trial

The Paterno family said the "NCAA never contacted our family or our legal counsel. And the fact that several parties have pending trials that could produce evidence and testimony relevant to this matter has been totally discounted." Mr. Paterno was fired in November shortly after the scandal came to light, and he died of cancer in January.

Penn State President Rodney Erickson said the university "accepts the penalties and corrective actions," and that it would implement governance changes as it strives "to appropriately balance academic and athletic accomplishments." The university will work with the NCAA athletic-integrity monitor.

Read More

The NCAA's $60 million fine comes at a university that earlier this month approved a $4.26 billion operating budget for the coming fiscal year. Football provides the bulk of revenue for the university's intercollegiate athletic program. In the university's 2011-12 operating budget, football generated $50.6 million of the $97.4 million in total revenue for intercollegiate athletics. Total expenses amounted to $84.7 million, $10.4 million of which was on football.

Keith Dunnavant, a college football historian, said, "This will go down as one of the three most devastating penalties ever administered by the NCAA. Through the years, many of us have pondered the question: 'Is football too important?' at one institution or another. But none of us ever thought we would be asking that question about Penn State."

Experts were divided as to which of the penalties was the most damaging. Michael Butterworth, chairman of the department of communication at Bowling Green State University who has written extensively on college sports, said bowl games "generate millions of dollars for the universities, the conferences," and attract top players. "To know that an entire class won't see a [bowl] game in its entire career, that's a big disincentive for a lot of top-line players."

ENLARGE

Students on the Penn State campus reacted Monday to news of NCAA sanctions against the football program.
Associated Press

Letter from Graham Spanier to Board of Trustees

John Infante, a former compliance official at NCAA schools and an expert on enforcement issues, said that with the scholarship cuts, Penn State is basically operating with the resources of a team at a lower NCAA level. The Football Championship Subdivision allows 63 scholarships a year rather than the 85 allowed by major-college football. Still, Mr. Infante said Penn State could recover: "Penn State's still going to be a Big Ten school, they're still going to have a lot to sell once the sanctions are over."

ENLARGE

NCAA President Mark Emmert, right, gestures during a news conference as Ed Ray, NCAA Executive Committee chair and Oregon State University president, looks on at lef.
Associated Press

While cutting the number of football scholarships Penn State can give to entering students, the NCAA also said current athletes at Penn State can transfer to other programs.

Some people believe support for Penn State will stay strong despite the sanctions. "Given what the NCAA did today, I actually believe that since it didn't abolish the football season, that will mobilize alumni to donate even more," said Henry Giroux, a professor of English and cultural studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who taught at Penn State for 11 years. "The football culture and the team will now be seen as under siege."

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.